Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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Mrs. Longbottom and Neville were waiting here on purpose.
A dozen minutes earlier, Neville seemed to have misunderstood Kyle's meaning. Instead of going to find the healers, he went downstairs and started shouting that there was a werewolf, trying to get others to help from the second floor.
But no one believed him, even though they had just heard the commotion upstairs.
Werewolves don't appear during the day; this is basic common sense in the magical world.
Besides, this is St. Mungo's, a place teeming with talent, where there are plenty of people with mental problems. Just twenty minutes ago, someone claimed to be keeping a dragon upstairs.
A werewolf is nothing to be alarmed about.
Furthermore, the healers didn't believe the round-faced chubby boy either.
Their presence on the second floor was entirely due to someone else; the curly-haired intern healer who had led Kyle there. He had been in the werewolf's ward and witnessed the entire transformation.
Fortunately, he wasn't bitten. Perhaps because the werewolf had just transformed and his mind was still confused, the werewolf casually shoved him into the wall.
Once he pulled himself out, he immediately used St. Mungo's unique method to contact his colleagues and tell them about the werewolves.
This led to the scene described earlier.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Longbottom, upon learning of the incident, rushed to find Neville. After learning what had happened from her grandson, the old lady immediately wanted to take Neville to thank him.
However, they were too late; by the time they found Kyle, he had just gone to the sixth floor with the Dean and Dumbledore.
Mrs. Longbottom simply stood with Neville at the corner of the stairs, waiting for them to come down.
Afterwards, Mrs. Longbottom invited Kyle to a ward on the fifth floor.
Neville's parents were there, lying in bed, staring blankly at Kyle.
"You saved Neville, and they want to express their gratitude to you,"
Mrs. Longbottom said, turning to the bedside, her voice trembling slightly. "Frank, Alice, the boy is here."
But their eyes remained lifeless, as if they hadn't heard Mrs. Longbottom's words.
"Child, don't mind them," Mrs. Longbottom explained. "I can feel that they want to thank you in person, but they just can't express it."
As Mrs. Longbottom spoke, Neville stood beside her, head down, seemingly fascinated by his toes.
This behavior infuriated Mrs. Longbottom.
"Lift your head, Neville!" she said sternly. "You shouldn't be ashamed of what your parents went through; you should be proud!"
"I'm not..." Neville retorted, his voice soft but firm.
Then Mrs. Longbottom looked at Kyle, her back straight, and said proudly, "They were driven mad by the Death Eaters' Cruciatus Curse... Those stray dogs tried to force them to reveal their master's whereabouts, but they misjudged the situation. The Longbottom family never compromises with dark wizards!"
"Admirable..." Kyle said respectfully.
"You too, child,"
Mrs. Longbottom said. "To defeat a werewolf at such a young age, not many people can do that.
I hope Neville will have such courage in the future, and become an Auror after graduation, restoring the glory of the Longbottom family..."
She turned her gaze to Neville, suddenly frowning, "Stand up straight, Neville, I've told you many times, stand up straight!"
Even after leaving the ward, Kyle could still clearly hear Mrs. Longbottom scolding Neville.
He looked at Dean Sassia beside him and asked, "Can't the injuries caused by the Cruciatus Curse be healed?"
"It's difficult. Any problem involving the soul is hard to cure. It's the same with werewolves, and it's the same with the Cruciatus Curse."
Dean Sassia thought for a moment and said, "The Cruciatus Curse inflicts not only physical injuries, but also the pain of having one's soul torn apart.
A wizard's body is very fragile. It's like trying to piece together a shattered mirror on a taut balloon; the slightest mistake and the balloon will burst.
All we can do now is barely piece together the basics of the mirror, waiting for a more effective method to emerge while ensuring the balloon doesn't burst."
"Like the Wolfsbane Potion?" Kyle asked thoughtfully.
"That's right." Dean Sassia smiled. "What we're waiting for is the 'Wolfsbane Potion' that can cure the Cruciatus Curse, and we've been working towards it."
Kyle didn't speak again, silently walking forward.
Mentioning the shattered soul suddenly reminded him of Horcruxes.
Yes, Horcruxes… the most evil dark magic artifacts in the world, invented by the despicable Helbo.
Kyle remembered that to create a Horcrux, the first step was to split one's soul through killing before it could be placed into the Horcrux.
But what if the soul was already split from the start…could that step be skipped?
Like the Longbottoms, whose souls were shattered by the Cruciatus Curse, wouldn't that perfectly meet the requirements for creating a Horcrux?
Kyle fell into deep thought.
Since a complete mirror couldn't be pieced together from a balloon, wouldn't it be easier to simply remove the fragments?
Horcruxes were very special things; they were like an extra body, or a bridge, connecting those broken souls.
And what's even more interesting is that once this bridge was formed, each soul fragment would become relatively complete, which is why Voldemort, despite destroying six Horcruxes, didn't go insane.
It was precisely because of this characteristic that it allowed someone to achieve immortality.
If that's the case, could the Longbottoms' broken souls also be made into Horcruxes?
After breaking the soul into parts, wouldn't the issue of those fragments no longer need to be considered?
Of course, this was just one of Kyle's ideas.
The problem was, he hadn't read any books about Horcruxes; his knowledge was limited to the smattering of his memories, and he had no idea if this was even feasible.
Kyle glanced instinctively at Dumbledore not far away.
The other man quickly noticed and gave him a questioning look.
Kyle immediately looked away.
Ask Dumbledore?
Forget it. He figured if he uttered the word "Horcrux," the Elder Wand would be driven into the wall, and it would be embarrassing if he couldn't pry it out.
Since he couldn't ask, he'd just have to find it himself.
Kyle planned to look in the forbidden section after school started.
If he couldn't find it, it wouldn't matter; he still had a diary next year.
As for the crown in the Room of Requirement… to be honest, if he could, Kyle didn't want to touch that thing.
It was too dangerous, and it wouldn't do him any good.
[End of the chapter]